Pleased that Simon beat Tipsy (even if I'm not quite as big a Simon fan as I was bbh ). Interesting that Benneteau beat Ferrer so easily. I suspect the latter plays too many tournaments and has worn himself out . He is after all 30. Do hope Pico wins in the final - he's another of my 2nd tier favourites.

Pleased that Simon beat Tipsy (even if I'm not quite as big a Simon fan as I was bbh ). Interesting that Benneteau beat Ferrer so easily. I suspect the latter plays too many tournaments and has worn himself out . He is after all 30. Do hope Pico wins in the final - he's another of my 2nd tier favourites.

That's right Ruthie - Ferrer looked exhausted. He said after his match yesterday that he feels physically and mentally very tired. He was actually a break ahead twice in set one but could hardly hold serve at all, had chances in the second but couldn't take the BPs. It was a mistake to play Kuala Lumpur when he couldn't gain any ranking points - playing three weeks in a row isn't going to make him feel any better.

Benneteau did play very well though and definitely deserved to win. I like Pico too but want Benneteau to win this one - I was really surprised to learn that he's never won a tour title before (7 lost finals). He's a talented shotmaker, I'd have thought he'd have been able to win several titles.

Simon's one of my faves, really pleased that he's showing some form again. He often does well at this time of year. Good to see Gasquet do well too.

Love Monaco too but want Benneteau to win this one.Amazing to win your first title at his age.A triumph of hope over experience.Think he's just had a really good win in Davis cup doubles too, but may be making that up

"When ‘Pico’ (Monaco) was young, we did not have much money at all and we could not afford to buy balls often," relates Marcelo Gomez, Monaco's childhood coach. "I told the boys that to play a point in tennis you only need one ball. So they trained with one ball."

At the time that Monaco was developing his tennis game, Argentina was suffering one of the worst economic crises in its history.

"We had so much hunger to be professionals"

"There are so many times that we only got one ball for practice," Monaco tells DEUCE. "And if we lost it, or the ball broke, then the training was over and we had to do physical conditioning. We all came from a small town and if you could see the club and how bad the condition of the courts was, you would not believe it.

"Those of us from Tandil often talk about it," continues Monaco. "Other countries have invested millions of dollars in player development. We had zero investment. However, each challenge that we faced in Tandil prepared us better for when we went out to play in Buenos Aires or further away against other players who had a lot more support. This pushed us and gave us good foundation. And we had great coaches. We had so much hunger to be professionals. And we worked very hard from a young age."

"All the kids saw how much effort we put into them, pushing to make them professionals," says Gomez. "It was very tough, but I believe that this contributed to their success in the end. I think all of these events early in his life is the reason that he never stops fighting during a match."

It's amazing how many tennis players have come from Tandil considering it's only a small town. It was Pico's first hardcourt title today - the win meant a lot to him.

Feel sorry for Benneteau though - now 0-7 in ATP finals. I guess for some players it's a mental battle getting over the finish line in any final. He fought hard though, and even had a break point chance in the last set but didn't manage to break.

"There are so many times that we only got one ball for practice," Monaco tells DEUCE. "And if we lost it, or the ball broke, then the training was over and we had to do physical conditioning. We all came from a small town and if you could see the club and how bad the condition of the courts was, you would not believe it.

Copil is a decent player but yes, that's a big shock. Cilic was defending 300 points here as well having reached the final last year. I can only deduce he was struggling with an injury or else was distracted for whatever reason.